Clerk shares shooting experience

Friday

May 17, 2013 at 10:41 AMMay 17, 2013 at 10:44 AM

Connie DuvallMMI Reporter

Betty Montano, Kirkwood City Clerk, is a survivor of the shooting in Kirkwood, Mo., where a gunman went on a shooting rampage at a public meeting in their city hall, leaving six people dead and two others injured.

Betty visited Moberly Wednesday morning, at the Moberly Municipal Auditorium, and spoke to approximately 60 individuals, including law officers, Moberly City Council members, city employees, and interested persons about the Kirkwood City Council shooting.

It is as vivid in her mind today as the day it happened. She lost friends that day. Speaking to others about the shooting is her way of educating individuals to be ever mindful about their surroundings.

Was the shooter a stranger? No, she said. He owned his own construction company in the area, and attended many of the city council meetings; was upset because he had not obtained the needed required certification (even with assistance) to secure local building contracts. At the meeting, he was openly critical with his comments. There was talk about banning him from the meetings due to his disruptive behavior, but he was allowed to come to the meetings. It was a city problem, but being loud and argumentative did not make him an imminent threat.

On Feb. 7, 2008, Lee "Cookie" Thornton shot one police officer with a revolver across the side street from city hall, and took the officer's handgun before entering city hall. Thornton reached council chambers with these two weapons shortly after the meeting began. There, he shot a police officer, the public works director, two council members, the mayor, and a reporter. In total, the gunman killed five and wounded two others. He was then shot and killed by police.

Later, they would hear of Cookie's dire financial problems. His mother was about to lose her home (he had signed the papers, which she didn't know about), and the list goes on.

Moberly Police Chief Russell Tarr was among those in attendance to hear the Kirkwood City Clerk tell of her experience.

"We took notice of that event (the Kirkwood shooting), and implemented a police officer be assigned to each Moberly city council meeting," Tarr said. "They are a subtle reminder – security is there."

He went on to say, " We have provided additional training at the MPD for similar situations and others."

Sgt. Adam Whearty, of the Moberly Police Department, provided a list to attendees of "75 ways to avoid becoming a statistic". A few were selected to share: 1. Make eye contact with everyone. 2. Be in the inside lane at a stoplight. 3. Always look in the back seat before entering a vehicle. 4. If attacked, do whatever you can as long as you must. 5. If yelling for help, say it many times. 6. Yell for help in short loud bursts; not long and drawn-out. 6. When exiting a building, scan the area before proceeding. 7. Learn a secondary escape route from every location you spend time. 8. Commit yourself to survive. 9. You are your own first responder. 9 Turn the element of surprise back on the bad guy. 10. It's OK to win.